A Fine Line
by Princess Aurora Rose
Summary: There's a fine line between love and hate. No one's going to figure that out more than 17 year old Lily Evans, especially when James Potter comes back from summer more muscled and tan than ever before. NOT than Lily was noticing his biceps, or anything of the sort.
1. The Hogwarts Express

"Lily, darling, come down, we are going to be late!"

Coming, mum!" I shouted back.

I put my cauldron on the top of my clean robes and pushed down on the trunk lid. I couldn't believe we were this late. I never leave packing until the last minute. I sat on the lid and forced it shut. With some difficulty I fastened the latches and dragged it down the stairs. Unfortunately, I almost ran into Petunia, who was seething.

"Off to that . . . little . . . freak school of yours. You think you are so extremely cool. I bet you don't even have any friends! "Petunia hissed. I tried not to wince at her horse teeth.

I knew this was her evil, jealous way of telling me goodbye, so I forced a smile and said, "Bye Petunia. Have a nice school year."

She just made a really nasty face and slunk back upstairs to her room.

In the car, Petunia's absence drew a few nasty looks from my mother.

Finally, we got to King's Cross Station. I got a trolley while mum and dad parked the car. We went through the barrier together while I pretended that the mist in my eyes was because some dirt blew into it in the parking lot. Truth to be told, I was sad because this would be my last time at Hogwarts, unless I pursued a profession as a teacher, which was unlikely. (Hey, I may like studying, but I still have a social life.)

I kissed my mum on the cheek.

"You're coming home for Christmas, right?" My mum asked, tears gathering in her brown eyes that seemed like home as much as the scent of pine-sol and my dad's cologne.

"Yes, mum," I replied, trying not to cry. I was leaving for Hogwarts for the last time.

"Write to us often, okay?" the worry lines between my mother's eyes creased.

"Yes, of course mum." I smiled, trying to push the tears back as far as they could go and hugged her again. My Dad had told me goodbye last night as he couldn't miss a very important meeting he had at work today. I said goodbye to my mum one last teary time and pushed my way through the crowd.

I was preparing to haul my trunk on the train when a loud voice interrupted my thoughts obnoxiously.

"Hey, Evans! Evans!" A masculine voice called.

"What?" I asked, turning around to face . . . James Potter? I was so not prepared for the rush of hormones that arose inside of me when I saw his toned, tan body.

"Evans! Earth to Evans!" James said, impatiently.

"Sorry . . ." I apologized, trying to think logically about him. He's James Potter, and you're Lily Evans. He's just an ugly toe rag, I told myself.

"You've grown a bit." He said, looking me up and down. A familiar spark popped inside of me.

"Don't get any ideas, Potter" I said, smirking. Things may change, but I guess James Potter never goes away.

"Oh, I'm not getting any ideas. I'm over you." He said, smiling confidently and running a hand through that blasted hair of his.

"_What_?" I said, trying to think if my muggle pediatrician had said anything about a massive brain tumor growing inside of me.

"Over you, Evans. Over the summer I started dating other girls. "He said, looking completely comfortable with that fact. What the hell….

"Oh . . . well . . . okay." I couldn't help but feel the tiniest twinge of disappointment. Wait . . . hold on here . . . I was NOT disappointed that James didn't like me anymore. This was good. No more following me around in the corridors . . . no more asking me out every Hogsmeade trip.

"This isn't good, it's bad." The tiny voice in my head said.

"Shut up," I told it. Realizing that I had said that aloud, I sighed.

"What?" he asked, looking at me like I actually _did _have a brain tumor.

"Nothing." I said shortly.

**JP&LE**

"He actually said that?" Alice asked for the millionth time as the train picked up speed. Alice Prewett, Marlene Pierce, and I were sitting in our familiar compartment that was claimed every year.

"Oh my God, I can't believe it!" Marlene screamed with her usual craziness.

Always the considerate one, Alice asked, "Are you disappointed?"

"No!" I said a bit too quickly. "This year is going to be awesome."

"Hell yeah it is," Marlene said enthusiastically. "With or without James Potter."

"By the way, Lily, congrats on being Head Girl," Alice said, motioning to the shiny badge pinned on my robes.

"Shit." I said." I can't believe I forgot the meeting. I'm supposed to be there," I looked at my watch. "Now." I stood up.

"Have fun," Alice teased.

"You're in for a surprise." Marlene said. I paused opening the compartment door.

"What surprise?" I asked her.

"Nothing," she said, but her mischievous smile betrayed her instantly.

**JP&LE**

"Potter?" I asked sharply when I walked into the prefects meeting a little late. "What are you doing here?" He smoothly turned around from where he had been talking to the prefects, probably trying to persuade them to play some sort of prank on me.

"Evans, see you finally made it." He said. I could hear the amusement in his voice. Again, I felt that familiar spark of hatred.

"Potter, I'll ask once more before I hex you. What are you doing here?" I said, channeling my inner Professor McGonagall by putting my hand on my hip.

"Oh, Evans, didn't you hear?" He said, smirking. I think the sparks inside me were igniting now. "I'm Head Boy."

"Come again?" I said, now knowing for _sure_ that I had a brain tumor.

"I'm Head Boy." Potter said slowly, pointing to the badge on his chest.

"But-"I spluttered disbelievingly. What about Amos, or Remus? I looked out at the crowd of prefects, who l all looked like they were watching a mildly amusing one-on-one squash match. I found Remus' sympathetic face and Amos' slightly annoyed face. I needed to get over myself and Potter and start the meeting.

As I found out, Potter had already paired up everyone, putting two Hufflepuffs and a Ravenclaw together to compensate for the odd number. I passed out patrol schedules, and finally everyone filed out, Amos brushing my arm as he left and Remus giving me a kind smile and then going to wait outside for Potter.

"What the hell was Dumbledore thinking, making _you_ Head Boy?" I asked, pulling at the ends of my flaming red hair and pacing as if the floor was on fire. Potter stood waiting patiently, which reminded me not to let him push my buttons.

"I initially wondered that myself." Potter said calmly. I stopped my frantic pacing and looked into his eyes. Bloody hell, they were hazel. I never noticed Potter's eye color. I took a few moments to get myself under control.

"The point is, Potter, can you stop playing you stupid pranks long enough to assume the highest male student leadership position at Hogwarts?" I asked him.

"I'm going to bloody try, Evans. It would be easier to work with you if you gave me the benefit of the doubt at least sometimes." Potter said, a small stab of annoyance jumping out of his voice.

"Fine," I said, exhaling and feeling a headache coming on.

"If we're going to work like this, we need to at least act like we don't hate each other." Potter said, looking me straight in the eyes. Damn, that hazel.

"Fine," I said, again. "But friends, nothing more," I added warily. He rolled his eyes.

"I don't like you anymore, Evans." He said, obviously annoyed now. There were a couple of awkward-tension filled seconds before I spoke.

"Okay. Friends, then." I said, trying to keep up.

"Sounds good." Potter said, and with that, he left the compartment, leaving me to pick up all the papers from the meeting.

Later, as I crawled into my warm four poster and cuddled with my scarlet sheets, one thing remained in my mind.

Seventh year was going to be bloody weird.

**A/N:**

Okay, I hope you all liked that first chapter. Don't lose hope in James! I swear there's going to be plenty of steamy Jily moments in time. Please review because it'll help me get up chapter two quickly

-PAR


	2. The Last-First Day of School

"Evans, wake up!" Someone shook my shoulder. Thinking it was probably Marlene or Alice, I pushed them away. Wait….._Evans_? I snapped my eyes open.

"Potter? Bloody hell, what are you doing in my room?" I asked, looking up at him. I yanked the covers up over my body. I had only worn a tank top and some boy shorts to bed.

"Well, Evans, It's almost eight o'clock." He said, showing me his watch. Shit. Classes were starting in twenty minutes.

"Potter, get out!" I said, jumping out of bed and running over to the bathroom. "I need to get ready!"

He must've done what I said, because when I finished my shower in the bathroom, no one was there. I put my uniform on, did a simple spell with my wand to dry my hair and make it lightly wave, and grabbed my bag. Surveying myself in the mirror, I carefully swiped mascara on my red lashes, and pressed concealing powder on my face. With a little lip gloss, and I was out of my room.

Potter was still waiting downstairs in the common room.

"What are you still doing here, Potter? Classes start in five minutes." I said, as he fell into step alongside me.

"I thought I'd wait, Evans." He said, running a hand through his hair. He glanced sideways at me, and I could tell he was uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry about this morning, Evans, I didn't mean to cross any lines. It's just, you weren't up yet, and-"

I interrupted him, my heart kind of melting at his apology. I knew how he hated to apologize.

"James, it's okay, I don't mind. If it wasn't for you, I'd probably still be asleep right now." I said. He stopped walking and looked over at me.

"What?" I asked. "Is there something on my face?"

"No, no, it's just….." He paused. "I never thought I'd live to see the day when Lily Evans called me by my first name."

"Oh," I said, startled. I'd never even noticed I called him James. "Well I guess ever since I started seeing you as a real person, I guess I just started thinking that."

"Yeah, funny what that will do to you," James joked, probably trying to dispel some of the tension in the air.

"And as friends," I continued, "We should call each other by our first names."

"Lily," James said, smiling.

"James." I said, also smiling. We reached the Transfigurin classroom just before McGonagall closed the door.

"Miss Evans, Mr Potter, so glad you could join us." McGonagall said, gesturing to the only seats that were open in the room-the front pair of desks right in front of her. I quickly glanced at the room before I sat down. There weren't many continuing at the NEWT level. Transfiguring was one of the hardest and most demanding classes at Hogwarts, so most people didn't even pass their OWLs.

"Now, as most of you know, seventh years will be taking NEWT exams at the end of the year. This is crucial to your career, and, as such, I and the other teachers will work hard to prepare you for these exams." She began.

I have to admit, I kind of zoned out for the rest of her speech. Somehow I got distracted when James started rolling up the sleeves of his school shirt. He was really tan and his arm muscles were showing. When I realized what I was thinking about, I blushed and looked away.

"-So today we will be reviewing several basic Transfiguring ideas from you first years at Hogwarts in preparation for NEWT level spells next week. There are several items up here for you to practice with; pins, snails, and goblets. Refer to previous notes and your textbooks if you need any assistance. You will be working with you table partner." McGonagall set out all the items on her desk, and as the class started the activity, I turned to James.

"So what do you want to start with?" I asked.

"Um, let's just get all three and we can go from there." James said, grabbing the supplies and bringing them to our desk.

"…Right," I said, flustered. My stomach growled super loudly. I flushed.

"Hungry, Lily?" James asked, amused.

"Yeah," I said, sheepishly. He turned to Remus, who I hadn't noticed sitting behind us.

"Remus, Lily needs some of your chocolate," James said. Remus smiled knowingly and pulled out the biggest slab of Honeydukes chocolate I'd ever seen.

"Here you go," Remus said, breaking off a huge chunk and handing it to me while McGonagall was talking to some Hufflepuffs. I gobbled it down.

"Thanks so much, Remus." I said, not feeling nearly as bad now.

"No problem, Lily. I certainly have plenty." He said generously.

Surprisingly, the chocolate helped me survive until lunch, where I sat with Alice and Marlene.

"What is that, Alice?" I asked, referring to the piece of parchment she seemed to be reading religiously. She blushed.

"A letter from Frank." Marlene said, as we both laughed as Alice's expression.

"You're still dating him?" I asked, taking a big bite out my sandwich.

"Yeah, things were a bit slow over the summer but they've picked up now." Alice said, carefully folding the letter and putting it in her pocket.

"Obviously," Marlene said, "You can't stop reading that letter."

Alice blushed and changed the subject.

"Lily, where were you at breakfast this morning?" She asked curiously.

"Oh, I woke up late." I said, leaving out the fact that James had woken me up.

"Tsk, tsk," Marlene teased, "Hogwarts head Girl waking up on the first day of school. Inexcusable."

"But I never wake up late!" I said. "I don't know why it happened today, of all days."

"Relax, Lily," Alice said. "You can't be perfect all the time." There was a pause as we finished eating our sandwiches.

"Can you believe the amount of homework we already have?" I asked, as we left for Charms.

"No," Marlene groaned. "And quidditch tryouts are next week, too, and I really need to practice."

"Marlene, you don't need to practice!" Alice said, "You're already really good."

"Maybe, but James keeps saying how we really need to step up the intensity of the team if we want to win the Quidditch Cup." Marlene said.

"But, Mar, you've been on the team for four years, and James isn't stupid enough to kick you off now." I said. Marlene and Alice both looked at me.

"What?" I asked.

"You called James… James." Alice said, astonished.

"So?" I asked defensively. "That's his name, isn't it?"

"Wow, look how our Lily has grown up." Marlene said, trying and failing to sound like a proud parent.

"Shut up." I mumbled, looked around just to make sure James wasn't, like, right behind us.

Alice and Marlene teased me all the way to charms. I, personally, didn't get what the big deal was. It was only a name.

**A/N:**

**Thanks for reading :D I promise that there's going to be more Maruders in the next chapter.**

**Please review!**

**-PAR**


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